I'm totally not trying to make Ryan cry, so I've been steering clear of the carbs! Today completes the 12th day since I've had any pasta, bread, potatoes, and rice! I told you I was going to get serious....and I am! As of Friday, I was down 7 lbs since starting, so that makes my total loss thus far back to 11 lbs. I'm happy with it because I feel AWESOME!! Some things I've noticed since kicking my addiction to the curb are: my face is clearing up from the crappy adult acne I have, I'm energetic, less brain fogged, and I'm super proud of myself. A lot is to be said about feeling good internally. Another thing I've been pretty consistent about is logging my food. I've tried quite a few logging applications on my phone as well as websites online. The one I like is The Daily Plate, by Livestrong. It's the easiest I found to use, and I'm more likely to log my food when it's super easy.

I've been staying around 1200 calories every day, and trying to exercise at least 3 to 4 days per week. In addition to my exercising, I'm also being sure to log at least 10k steps. I've also started joining workout classes at my gym. I'm doing a dance class and Zumba, which are kicking my butt! Today I did an hour and a half of Zumba, which was so incredibly satisfying for me! Never in a million years would I have thought I could have lasted as long as I did, but the adrenaline rush you get from sheer determination, is sometimes enough to carry you through. I'm planning on continuing doing all of the above for as long as it takes to get to where I want to be. Right now, I have a mini goal of 8 more pounds gone by my Cardiologist appointment on 8/17. I have just under a month to do it. I'm confident I can! I can honestly say that there's really not much else I can be doing right now to lose this weight. I really feel I'm putting in 100% of what I can do.

So, as you can see I'm super serious! One of my weaknesses is pizza. Of course the kiddies were asking for pizza multiple times this past week. Finally, I said ok and off to the store we went. I bought some whole wheat pizza dough for them, and tried thinking of something inventive for myself. I thought maybe I'd make a pizza salad.....but that didn't sound appetizing in the least. I was running out of ideas, so I decided to turn to my trusty Google searching for some ideas. My search led me to a cauliflower crust for pizza. BAM!!! I found my pizza crust! I loved it so much, I wanted to share the recipe with you. I have made it twice, and tweaked it a bit the second time around. To make this crust, you need the following:

First off, you need to grate the cauliflower using the cheese grater. (of food processor) Make sure you grate into a microwave safe bowl. For a 9 x 13 pizza, I used half of the cauliflower. Then take the grated cauliflower, place it in the microwave for about 5 minutes, or until the cauliflower is slightly softened. Remove from microwave and add to a large mixing bowl. Mix in your eggs and about 3/4 to 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Mix well until all ingredients are fully incorporated. You can see what my mixture looked like in the first picture below. Take your mixture and place it on your nonstick pan and spread evenly. This will help you to avoid any uneven cooking. The upper right picture below shows what mine looked like. Once you have completely lined your pan with the cauliflower crust, you will then place the crust in the oven at 400 F for about 10 to 12 minutes. You want the crust to have a light golden tinge to it, but you can bake it for as long as you'd like. Once it's baked to your liking, remove the crust from the oven and apply the pizza sauce and toppings. Apply the remainder of your shredded mozzarella cheese, and place the pizza back into the oven. Bake for another 10 or so minutes, which will make the cheese melted. I prefer a slightly more done pizza, so I left mine in for about 15 minutes. The bottom right picture is my finished product. I found that waiting for the pizza to semi cool down was the optimal condition for cutting the pizza. Otherwise it would fall apart.

I can honestly say that I didn't even crave the regular wheat pizza crust that the rest of the family was eating. I was completely content with my cauliflower crust, and I will definitely be making this again!

How about you? Do you have any inventive carb swaps? Have you tried the cauliflower crust before? I would love to hear your experiences.